How'd they get there? By winning the close ones. The Orioles finished the
season with a stunning 29-9 record in one-run games. Even more remarkably, the
O's rattled off 16 straight wins in extra innings. No other team finished with
more than 13 extra inning wins in 2012.

The bullpen may not deserve all of the credit for Baltimore's success in 2012
but it definitely deserves some of it. Baltimore's relievers combined for a
3.00 ERA in 545 1/3 innings last season, fifth-best in the majors and the
second-lowest bullpen ERA in the American League (Tampa Bay led the AL at
2.88). Jim Johnson enjoyed a breakout season in his first year as the full-
time closer, leading the major leagues with 51 saves in 54 chances.

Johnson's strong season earned him a trip to his first All-Star game where he
was joined by teammates Adam Jones and Matt Wieters. Jones led the team in
batting average (.287) and wins above replacement (3.4) while Wieters finished
second on the team in runs batted in (83). Both players received Gold Glove
awards at the end of the season.

The Orioles weren't among the league leaders in batting average (.247) but
they made up for it by smashing 214 home runs (second in MLB) for an average
of one homer every 26 at bats. Five Orioles (Jones, Waiters, Chris Davis, J.J.
Hardy and Mark Reynolds) blasted 20 or more round-trippers last season, the
first time that's happened since 2008.

Unfortunately, Baltimore's bats fell silent in the postseason (.195) as the
team bowed out to New York in a thrilling five game series.

The Orioles' final regular season record represented a 24-game improvement
from 2011 when the team finished 28 games out of first place. Buck Showalter's
club returns essentially the the same team as last year, meaning expectations
are through the roof.

Adam Jones must have gotten a little mixed up last season. His slugging
percentage dipped by more than 60 points in the second half and he was just
plain awful in the postseason (2-for-26 with seven strikeouts).

The hope was that Jones would shake off his late season struggles and return
to have an even better season in 2013. So far, that hasn't materialized.

Jones looked like a deer caught in the headlights at the WBC (.182 AVG in six
games) and he's been just as bad in the Grapefruit League (also .182). He
isn't making contact and even when he has, his power has completely
evaporated.

Of course, spring training stats aren't always indicative of what we can
expect in the regular season. Ryan Braun couldn't hit a lick in Arizona last
spring (.213 in 19 Cactus League games) but he was terrific once the regular
season got underway (NL-leading 41 HR). By that same token, Pittsburgh's Matt
Hague belted seven homers last spring. His regular season home run tally? A
big ol' goose egg.

Jones is probably just in a slump right now. But if this funk stretches into
the regular season, the Orioles could have a problem on their hands.

WHAT ABOUT THE BACK END OF THE ROTATION?

Jason Hammel is tentatively penciled in as Baltimore's Opening Day starter. It
looks like Wei-Yin Chen will follow Hammel in the rotation with Miguel
Gonzalez and Chris Tillman clinging to the third and fourth posts
respectively.

As for the final spot in the rotation, well, your guess is as good as mine.

This spring has turned into a Hunger Games style competition for the last man
standing. At certain points, up to seven different pitchers have been in
contention for the fifth spot in Baltimore's starting rotation.

Top prospect Dylan Bundy fell out of the running when the team reassigned him
to minor league camp on March 16. Jair Jurrjens and Zach Britton entered the
spring as the two favorites to land the last spot but neither has had a good
spring (4.61 ERA for Jurrjens, 6.10 for Britton). Tommy Hunter (7-8, 5.45 in
2012) had an outside shot but it looks like Showalter would prefer to use him
as a long reliever.

That leaves us with three front-runners: Jake Arrieta, Steve Johnson and Brian
Matusz.

Johnson (4-0, 2.11 in 12 games last season) has been the most consistent but
he doesn't have as much upside as Matusz or Arrieta.

Matusz might be the most talented pitcher in that group but there's a chance
Showalter could opt to keep him in the pen so he'll have a left-hander he can
call on in the later innings.

Arrieta has experience (60 starts for the Orioles since 2010) and he's put
together a pretty nice spring so far (1-0, 1.56 in four appearances). It's
just a matter of whether or not Showalter is willing to overlook his
disastrous 2012 campaign (3-9, 6.20).

If Arrieta does have the upper hand in the race for the fifth spot, it sure
isn't by much. In the end, we could see all seven of these candidates get a
chance to prove themselves at the big league level in 2013.

CAN BRIAN ROBERTS BE A FACTOR?

For a period in the mid 2000s, Roberts was the most consistent producer in
Baltimore's starting nine. Between 2005-2009, Roberts averaged 13 HR, 64 RBI
and 37 SB per season while hitting at a .294 clip.

Injuries began to pile up for Roberts in 2010 and since then, he has missed a
whopping 371 games. Roberts hasn't had much success at the plate over that
span, collecting a .244 average in 459 at bats.

Now for the first time in several seasons, it looks like Roberts will be 100
percent healthy on Opening Day.

Expectations are pretty low for Roberts but there's always a chance he could
have a renaissance in 2013. If Roberts reaches or comes close to his career on
base percentage of .351, he could be a major asset to the Orioles.

X-FACTOR: MATT WIETERS: You can do a lot worse than 23 HR and 83 RBI,
especially when it's only your third full season in the major leagues.

But if 2012 was the high point of Matt Wieters' career, I think we'd all be a
little bit disappointed.

When Wieters made his big league debut in 2009, he was being touted as the
next Mike Piazza. Instead his career has taken a very Brian McCann-like
trajectory.

If Wieters is going to have a breakout season, why not make it 2013?

First, he'll need to make some adjustments. The switch-hitting Wieters did a
lousy job against right-handers last season (.224 against righties, .323
versus southpaws) and too many of his at bats ended with strikeouts (whiffed
once every 4.7 at bats last season).

Perhaps the adjustments have already been made. Wieters has been outstanding
this spring, collecting a .429 batting average with 13 RBI. He's hitting .467
from the left side of the plate and get this: he's struck out just four times
in 35 at bats.

In a division where there's almost no margin for error, a breakout season for
Wieters could be the difference between a division title and a last place
finish.

OUTLOOK

The Orioles didn't add much this offseason, but after winning 93 games last
season, they didn't really need to. The bullpen is spectacular, the lineup has
power for days and Showalter is one of the smartest managers in the major
leagues. The only real question mark is the starting rotation, especially the
back end of it. From the looks of it, the No. 5 slot is going to be a
revolving door all season. The Toronto Blue Jays are still favorites to win
the division but a Wild Card berth doesn't seem out of the question for
Baltimore. It's going to be a coin flip for second place in the AL East with
the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays battling punch-for-punch the whole season.